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I chose the start of the school year because it's what helps you build the structure of the school year, and how you will do your lectures based on your students' needs. It allows you to get to know your students and helps you create a community with all the books, resources, and activities that you include. It's important to teach this because this is, like I mentioned, where you create a community in your classroom; you want your students to get a clear idea of the expectations, rules, routines, and what their classroom environment is like. It is up to us as educators to make sure students feel safe and valued. I would start with the books I have and create activities related to the books. Practicing the routine will be big in the first few weeks, and the rules will be laid out within the first week.

Questions:

How can I make sure I’m meeting the needs of all learners right from the start, especially those who are shy or need extra support?

How do I adjust my plans if students take longer than expected to learn routines or if behaviors become a challenge early on?

What challenges do you expect during the first week, and how might you handle them?

I want to get different POV's to make sure I don't miss anything.

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This activity involves students completing an "All About Me" book, allowing them to share personal information such as their favorite things, family, and hobbies. Displaying these books in front of the class fosters a sense of community and helps students feel valued and seen.

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Sarah SmithPageOn.ai12 min readMarch 9, 2025

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How to Design Fun All About Me Lesson Plans for Preschoolers?Step-by-Step Guide

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Create engaging all about me lesson plans for preschoolers with fun activities that boost self-awareness, social skills, and emotional growth step-by-step.

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Would You Rather

This activity works to get to know the students on the first day of school and allows me to build connections with my students. For this, I could have my students sit at the community circle and ask them student-friendly would you rather questions, which allows the students to get comfortable with the classroom and encourages engagement. You could have thumbs up for one and thumbs down for the other option.

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Teacher Questions - Advice and Freebies for New Elementary Teachers!

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The First Day is full of routines and procedures and rules, so how do we keep it from getting boring (for the kids AND US)?

We bring in the fun stuff. :)

I'm talking games, activities, craft-ivities... all of those things you dream about on the first day of school!

So how do you decide the fun activities to mix into your day (because we all have admin that want to make sure we are using every minute wisely, right)? I recommend thinking through the 3 C's.

Objectives for FUN on the First Day of School

Connection - Use fun activities as a great time to teach and practice social routines in a non-threatening environment - taking turns, using social clues when we are interacting with each other, getting to know each other, etc. This is also a great time to explain expectations and model them before playing any games or doing any activities. For instance, how will students know when it is their turn to talk in your classroom? In some games, I like to use a talking prop like a squishy ball to help students know when it's their turn as well as know to look at whoever has that prop to practice listening.

Community - Fun activities are a GREAT way of building connections in your classroom. Choose games and activities that are designed to help students get to know and build connections with each other and you. Throughout the first week (and rest of the year) try to provide Ice Breakers and opportunities where they can discover similarities they share with one another student (and you).

Comfort - Build in a mix of activities to create spaces for students with different strengths to have a chance to shine. Think about the learning styles you learned in college and try to include those in your activities. Is there a listening element (read aloud), a movement activity (kinesthetic), or an art opportunity (visual) mixed into your first day or week?

So let's get to some ideas!

Fun & Easy activities for Back to School

Clumping

For this game, students start by standing around the room. Then the teacher says "Clump by (category)" and students start making huddles (or "clumps") that fit. For example, if the teacher says "Clump by birthday month", students try to find all of their peers that were born in the same month as them (i.e. all of the August birthdays will try to find each other to form an August Clump). Once everyone has stopped moving, you can go around the room and have a leader from each clump share their answer.

Other clumping options:

NOTE: It's a good idea to reiterate safe movement, appropriate volume, and how to communicate to each other in kind ways before starting!

Line Order Activity

This is a great game to practice where you line up while also getting to know one another and it is as simple as it sounds! Have students line up based on different prompts.

Some options could include:

NOTE: I like to challenge them to try to do this silently as often as I can! If there is a sound, I have them go back to their seats and start over. An option for added challenge is to time them so that it feels more like a game.

Four Corners

To play Four Corners, give a prompt with four answers and have the students walk to the corner that represents their answer.

Here are some examples:

Which place would you rather visit? (Beach, Mountains, Desert, Arctic)

Which is your favorite to read (picture books, chapter books, magazines, graphic novels)

Which would you rather be when you grow up? (Doctor, Zoo Keeper, Author, Astronaut)

Which superpower would you like to have? (invisibility, ability to fly, super speed, super strength)

Would You Rather

This can be played as a whole group using the Cross The Line technique (below), in small groups, or as a partner game (with the same partners the whole time or you could switch partners after each question). The questions can be silly or somewhat serious. The possibilities are endless! Here are a few to get you started:

Would you rather...

build a snowman or sand castle?

Wash the dishes or take out the trash?

Play in the snow or in the rain?

Eat poop that tastes like chocolate or chocolate that tastes like poop? (Too gross? haha. I don't mind leaning into kid humor every once in a while, but if that's not your thing, feel free to skip this one.)

Cross the Line

For this game, place a piece of tape down the center of the room. Have the students stand on one side of it. You will call out a prompt that begins, "Cross the line if you [blank]." After crossing, students stay on whichever side of the line they are now on, facing the line so that they will be prepared to cross again when the next question fits.

Options include: "Cross the line if you..."

All About Me Page

An All About Me page is exactly as it sounds - some sort of page that has students draw or write about themselves. This is great for a number of reasons:

it can be completed independently,

it doesn't make students feel stressed,

it can be a useful tool for the class to learn about each other, and

it can be utilized if the teacher needs a minute to get something done.

At the end of the day (or week if it is a more involved page), students can share their pages with a partner, team, or the whole class. They are also a fun option to display somewhere in the class or room.

I will sometimes fill one out as an example and an added way to share about myself with the class.

Read Aloud (and Snack!)

Children of all ages (and adults, let's be honest) love listening to a good story. It's calming and takes the pressure off the listener. There are so many great options for read-alouds for the first day of school. You can go with an option like Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, or First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, or just read a fun story that will make students laugh. I like to pair snacks with Read-Alouds because I find it's hard for students to write or do other tasks while eating. (And snack time during read-alouds prevents gross crumb smudges and unidentifiable sitckies on all of your papers.) So, by doing these together, students can just enjoy listening while keeping busy at the same time.

Check out my FREE Guide to prepping for the First Day of School on the Freebies page!
Note: If you buy something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. Don't worry. We only recommend things we truly like and want to share with you. Thanks so much for your support!
Other posts you might like:

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Fun Activities for the First Day of School - Teacher Questions - Advice and Freebies for New Elementary Teachers!

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Easy, low prep activities for the first day of school.

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The point of this activity is to get students to get up and find where things are in the classroom. This allows students to get familiar with the classroom layout and allows them to find things quicker throughout the school year. The objective promote student comfort and ensure smooth transitions.

Link: https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/first-day-of-school-activities/

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This article gave me tips on what I could do as a teacher during my first year and the students' first year in the grade level they are in. This was mostly for classroom decor, which can be helpful if you plan on creating an effective and helpful classroom layout for the students. It helps us create a welcoming classroom for the students.

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Classroom Essentials For New Teachers - Miss Jacobs Little Learners - Miss Jacobs Little Learners

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Discover the must-have teacher essentials for a successful classroom, from organization tools to resources, discover the teacher school supplies you need in your kit.

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Class Dojo is a free platform that students, parents, and teachers can use to stay connected and informed about school information. It allows you to reward good behavior, track student progress, and create a supportive environment. It's a great tool to use at the beginning of the school year and all throughout.

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ClassDojo helps teachers, parents, and students build amazing classroom communities.

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This helps support creating lesson plans for the beginning of the school year, especially if you find yourself stuck trying to create inclusive activities for the students. It won't always be perfect, but that's why you go over it and see what you will change and keep based on your students' needs. It's a great educational resource that can be used to help me set clear expectations and foster a positive classroom culture.

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MagicSchool.ai - AI for teachers - lesson planning and more!

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Join over a million teachers saving hours of time using the #1 AI Platform for Education, MagicSchool, to help lesson plan, differentiate, write assessments, write IEPs, communicate clearly, and more!

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Offers a good amount of articles and videos that aim to support new teachers who are embarking on their first school year of teaching. It covers essential topics like classroom design, assessment strategies, and much more. It also supports teachers who have been in the field longer.

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We've pulled together articles and videos in which educators-both veteran and new-share what they wish they knew on day one about classroom design, assessment, working with parents, and more.

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A Starter Pack of Resources for New Teachers

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Edutopia has a lot of great resources for new teachers, so we've gathered some of the best in one place to help you get started.

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It's a teaching approach that focuses on creating a positive classroom community while helping students build social-emotional skills. The activities and structures in this program encourage kindness, empathy, and working together in a supportive way.

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"Before you speak, listen." -William A. Ward Listening With Purpose As I listen in on the student conversations occurring around the classroom, I notice that my students have a firm grasp on the basics of listening and speaking. They turn their attention toward the speaker and maintain a calm...

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Responsive Classroom is an evidence-based approach to teaching that focuses on the strong link between academic success and social-emotional learning (SEL).

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👸THE RECESS QUEEN 👑READ ALOUD KIDS BOOK | Story about FRIENDSHIP (Animated)

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1. What does it mean to make someone feel welcomed?

Can you give an example of what you've experienced or seen in the book/outside world?

2. What can we do if we see someone who feels different or left out?

3. If you were new to this school, what would help you feel like you belong?

what could each of us do to help new students to feel welcomed?

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1. Why do you think Mean Jean acted that way during recess?

Do you think she was just mean or was there another reason to her behavior?

2. Why was Katie Sue's kindness more powerful than Mean Jean's actions?

How is being kind different from just following the rules?

3. What could the other kids have done to help Katie Sue stand up to Mean Jean earlier?

How can we work together to make sure everyone feels safe at recess?

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Book: All Are Welcome - Alexandra Penfold

"All Are Welcome" takes place in an environment where students from different backgrounds and cultures are embraced. It went from morning routines, what they wear, what they go to school in, and much more. It reinforces a sense of belonging and unity. This book encourages empathy and Kindness. It shows children that have all sorts of backgrounds being accepted. Instead of judging, it shows us to celebrate other students, no matter where they come from or what they have or don't have.

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The Recess Queen by Alexis O’Neill

Mean Jean is mean during recess, no one gets to have fun until she does. Her intimidating presence keeps the other children in check and afraid of her. However, a new student, Katie Sue, appears and does as she pleases because she's unaware of mean Jean. When Katie gets confronted, instead of reacting angrily, she acts out of kindness and invites Mean Jean to play. This book teaches students about bullying and how they can include students in a friendly way. It focuses on behavioral expectations and ways for students to react when they see someone being mean.